Topband: DX Engineering NCC-2

[ko7ss at yahoo.com]

I have the NCC-2 and 2 of the DX Engineering active verticals, the CQWW CW
was the first test drive. VERY impressive results on 40M, less so on 80M
and even less so on 160, compared to listening to the transmit antennas,
an OCF on 40/80 and top loaded vertical on 160. Just not much peaking or
nulling of signals found on 160M. The antennas are in a pine tree forest.
The noise is nonspecific, a constant S2 on 40, S4 on 80, and S5 on 160.
The neighborhood is lots of vacation cabins with a million possible noise
sources.

The question is: the spacing between the 2 active verticals is 50'. The
manual talks about spacing between 1/10 and 1/4 wavelength which is a big
variation when considering all 3 bands. Would an increase in spacing help
on 160M? The ground rods were pounded into extremely rocky soil with a
sledge hammer and I can't get them out, so "experimenting" with the 
spacing would require buying more ground rods :)

73, Bill KO7SS on Mt Lemmon in southern Arizona